modular pie-cosahedron

Step 1 Layout and cut the pieces

we needed 20 equilateral triangles. choosing an altitude of 12 inches let us easily lay out two strips of them on a 24x48 inch sheet of 24 gauge steel. in order to get the dihedral angle at which the sides of the pans have to meet to form the whole icosahedron requires the sides to be sloped at darn near 120 degrees so if one just cuts out the diamond shaped tab in each corner, the results fit together quite nicely.

we decided to pick up a power-shear from harbor freight. cuts the sheet like butter and leaves a cleaner edge than the hand sheers. it wouldn't work for really detailed work but for reasonably smooth curves it's definitely worth it's weight and even for straight cuts it's significantly more affordable than a floor shear.